This paper posits that authenticity is an aspect of both the context and the process of learning. These two aspects cannot be seen in isolation and must be analyzed as one unity. We refer to this coupling relationship as the context-process authenticity. Existing learning and instructional approaches associated with authenticity, such as…

This chapter presents the findings from a review of the practice of evaluation in federal agencies as an attempt to inform policies on method choice. The author explores whether federal agencies differ in their approaches to evaluation design and the factors that influence these differences. The nature of the programs, agency culture, evaluator…

This article draws from three ethnographic studies of children playing sociodramatically in multilingual, multicultural contexts. Countering a deficit perspective that focuses on what children from nondominant cultures do not know, we use the concept of syncretism to illuminate children's expertise and intentionality as they blend knowledge from…

High quality assessment practice is expected to yield valid and useful score-based interpretations about what the examinees know and are able to do with respect to a defined target domain. Given this assertion, the article presents a framework based on the "unified view of validity," advanced by Cronbach and Messick over two decades ago, to assist…

This paper uses administrative data from the University of Texas-Austin to examine whether high school peer networks at college entry influence college achievement, measured by grade point average (GPA) and persistence. For each freshman cohort from 1993 through 2003 we calculate the number and ethnic makeup of college freshmen from each Texas…

The big District of Columbia Public School (DCPS) school facilities issues right now are the proposed closing of underutilized school buildings and the effects of new grade-level reorganization and consolidations. However, this report focuses on another critical issue--the basic condition of all DCPS school buildings. This special report of the…

The purpose of this research is to evaluate the impact and effectiveness of on-line homework in principles of accounting classes. We surveyed students to determine their degree of satisfaction with on-line homework and their perceptions about its effectiveness in enhancing their learning. We also gathered data to determine the extent of online…

There is growing recognition of the importance of helping children to develop an ability to think about biological and environmental issues in terms of systems interactions and impacts. Several progressions have been published that suggest how their conceptual understandings may develop over time. However these are not necessarily as informative…

While it is important for accounting information systems (AIS) students to understand computer technology, internal controls and business processes, such knowledge is of little use without reference to appropriate contexts. Integrating Wall Street Journal (WSJ) readings and discussions into AIS classes can enrich learning by stimulating…

Across the field of higher education and within the discipline of sociology, several important reconceptualizations of academic work have emerged. While not absolutely in sync, there is a striking overlap across three of the most visible of these: Boyer's Scholarship Reconsidered, Carnegie's Stewardship of the Discipline, and Burawoy's Public…

The aim of the research was to critically analyse how a university context influences the quality of academics' research output. Wenger's social theory of learning was used as theoretical framework. The investigation involved an ethnographic case study of the research culture at one college at the institution. Data collection was mainly by means…

This study investigates how community characteristics, student background, school climate, and zero-tolerance policies interact to affect school crime. The study articulates and fits a school crime model to 712 high schools participating in the 2000 School Survey on Crime and Safety, confirming that school location and student socioeconomic status…

This study examines 2 aspects of cognitive processing in person perception--attention and decision making--in classroom-relevant contexts. Teachers completed 2 implicit, performance-based tasks that characterized attention to and utilization of 4 student characteristics of interest: ethnicity, facial affect, body size, and attractiveness. Stimuli…

Context: A growing number of children reside with methamphetamine-abusing parents in homes where the illicit drug is produced. Yet, the effects of a methamphetamine environment on psychological child outcome are still unknown. Purpose: To examine whether preschoolers who lived in methamphetamine-producing homes are at increased risk for developing…

In this article, the authors argue that online learning conversations need to go beyond the common "information exchange" to a deeper level of interaction in order to help learners build situated knowledge that is useful in their local contexts. The article begins by looking at the commonly-used framework of a Community of Practice (CoP) and, in…